What Retail Salespersons earn in Columbia County, GA
The median pay for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA is $29,350 per year, which works out to $14.11 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC metropolitan area, the labor market that Columbia County, GA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $32,970, which is 12.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 6,930 people working in this occupation across the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Columbia County, GA has roughly 162,434 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Retail Salespersons in the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,220 a year ($10.68 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $44,450 or more ($21.37 an hour). That is a gap of $22,230 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $26,930 at the 25th percentile and $35,500 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.0 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA is $14.11. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $29,350, and the same salary is $2,446 a month before taxes or about $1,129 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $11.93 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Retail Salespersons
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Retail Salespersons this way: "Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs"; "Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices"; "Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment"; "Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations".
Job outlook for Retail Salespersons
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 3,998,100 jobs in 2025 to 3,984,100 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 520,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,410 for this occupation; the Columbia County, GA median of $29,350 is 17.1% below it.
How pay in Columbia County, GA compares
Compared with the Georgia average
The local median of $29,350 sits below the Georgia employment-weighted average of $31,488. The shortfall is $2,138 a year, or 6.8%, so Columbia County, GA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Georgia, the highest median we track for this job is $32,850 in Fulton County, GA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Retail Salespersons is $34,080 across the contiguous United States. At $29,350, Columbia County, GA pays $4,730 less, which is 13.9% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Columbia County, GA
Among the 390 occupations with published wages in Columbia County, GA, Retail Salespersons ranks number 363 by median pay, ahead of about 7% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $87,760 a year, which is $58,410 more than the median for Retail Salespersons.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $29,350 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $4,539 a year, which leaves $24,811, or $2,068 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $13,600. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $1,394, an effective 4.7% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $1,820 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $426. FICA totals $2,245, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Georgia
Georgia income tax on this salary is $900 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 65% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $75 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Columbia County, GA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Columbia County, GA show an average adjusted gross income of $91,474 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.2% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.7%, compared with the 4.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Columbia County, GA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Columbia County, GA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $24,811 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Columbia County, GA is $1,202 a month, or $14,424 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,329 a month. For Retail Salespersons, a one-bedroom absorbs 58.1% of take-home pay and 49.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 11.7% of gross pay for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Georgia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,488 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $720, for $2,207 in total. Gasoline in Georgia averages $2.95 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,366.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $21,433 a year, 86% of take-home pay. That leaves $3,377 a year, or $281 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 11.5% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Columbia County, GA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Columbia County, GA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Columbia County, GA, set beside the Georgia and national medians.
Property taxes in Columbia County, GA
Homeowners in Columbia County, GA pay a median of $2,515 a year in real estate taxes, 7% above the Georgia median of $2,341 and 19% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $305,300, the median tax bill is 0.82% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Retail Salespersons median of $29,350, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Columbia County, GA
Renters in Columbia County, GA pay a median gross rent of $1,409 a month in the Census survey, 1% above the Georgia median of $1,393. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,202 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $305,300, in line with the Georgia median of $303,300. Median household income is $95,592, 24% above the Georgia median of $77,353, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 15.1% of that income.
Commuting in Columbia County, GA
Workers in Columbia County, GA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.9 minutes each way, 12% below the Georgia average of 28.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.0% of workers in Columbia County, GA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Retail Salespersons afford to live in Columbia County, GA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $29,350 that ceiling is $734 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,202 is $468 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $23.12 an hour; the median for Retail Salespersons is $14.11, which is 39% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.93 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 23.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,329 a month means $665 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,450 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $9,827.
How fast you can save
At $281 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 36 months (3.0 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 72 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Retail Salespersons pay in Columbia County, GA
What is the hourly wage for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA?
The median is $14.11 per hour, based on $29,350 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.68 at the 10th percentile to $21.37 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $29,350 becomes $24,811 a year. That is $2,068 a month, $954 every two weeks or $477 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA?
Total taxes are $4,539 a year, an effective rate of 15.5%: $1,394 federal income tax, $2,245 FICA and $900 Georgia income tax.
Is pay for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA above the Georgia average?
No. The local median of $29,350 is -6.8% versus the Georgia average of $31,488, a difference of $2,138 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Retail Salespersons salary in Columbia County, GA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,202 a month against take-home pay of $2,068, which is 58.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $734 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Retail Salespersons in Columbia County, GA?
About $281 a month ($3,377 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,433 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Columbia County, GA at the 30% guideline?
$23.12 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,424 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Retail Salespersons is $14.11.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Georgia rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.